Her Own Worth: Negotiations of Subjectivity in the Life Narrative of a Female Labourer
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Description
Contents
Reviews
Language
English
ISBN
978-952-222-609-9
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction: Understanding Her Life
Research Aims and Questions
Studying the Life of an “Ordinary” Individual
Elsa’s Life Context
The Life of Elsa Koskinen
Inha Ironworks – the Factory Village
Factory Workers’ Families
Concepts and Theoretical Framework
Narrated Life and Personal Experiences
The Life Narrative as a Negotiation of Subjectivity
Intersections of Gender, Class and Work
Outline of this Book
2. The Dialogic Research Process and Analysis
The Interviews and Intimacy
Interviews with Elsa
Studying a Relative – Subjective Knowledge and Validity
Blind Spots and Reflexivity
The Challenges of Intergenerational Dialogue
Research Ethics
Tools of Analysis
Micro-narratives and Key Dialogues
Narrative Positioning
Cultural Ideals
3. A Working Woman: The Negotiation of Gendered Ideals
Family Dynamics, Generations and Gendered Ideals
The Model of the Heroic Mother
The Working Mother as Homemaker
The Woman I Want (You) to Be
Gender and Humour in the Factory Environment
Dirty Work, Dirty Talk
Absurd Ideals: Working, Resting and Taking Care of the Home
A Female-Rebel or Young People Having Fun?
Women in Manual Labour
Strength and Self-control
Embodied Femininity: Pretty Girls in Dirty Overalls
4. Social Class: Identification and Distinction
Narrated Worlds: Social Dynamics in the Factory Community
The Days of the Paternalistic Factory Owner
The Stereotype of the Rough and Drunken but Genuine Worker
Youth, Solidarity and Sense of Community
Social Mobility: Making and Breaking Boundaries
The Self Defined by Class
Material Scarcity and Social Ranking
Relegated to a Lower Class: Dominance and Humiliation
Skills and Dignity: “I knew the job”
Worker Identity and “a greasy skin”
5. Change and Continuity in a Life Narrative
Embodied Change: Experiences of Advance and Loss
Modernizing Factory Work: Embodied Experience and the Worker Identity
An Easier Life Equals a Better Life?
Sites (Dis)Connecting People
Disappearing Landscapes – The Amputated Sites of the Factory Community
Travelling Selves – Narrative Strategies and Biographical Time
Beginnings: The Solidarity of the Family and the Community
The Young and Wild Elsa
The Shy and Worrying Elsa
The Funny Elsa
Completion: the Humorous Storyteller
6. Conclusions
Narrating Subjectivity: Continuity and Renegotiation
Reflections on Narrative Means, Strategies and Agency
The Potential of Micro-level Analysis and a Dialogic Approach in Life Narrative Research
Notes
References
Appendix 1: Interviews
Appendix 2: Key Events and Milestones of Elsa’s Life
Appendix 3: Commenting Letter from Elsa
Appendix 4: Index of Micro-narratives
Appendix 5: Actors of Elsa’s Narratives
Abstract
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